More and more manufacturers of food packaging are concerned about the migration of mineral oils from paper packaging made of recycled papers, into food. Residual mineral oils which originate from the inks in recycled paper products can contaminate food. Recyclable products that contain such inks include those made out of old corrugated containers (OCC) and old newsprint (ONP). It is very difficult and costly for packaging manufacturers to try to eliminate these problematic inks from recycled paper products, particularly old newspapers, that contain such inks. Inks that include mineral oils containing carbon atom chains of from C10 to C25 present the greatest migration problems in such paper food packaging.
There is a need to fix mineral oils in paper food packaging products so that the mineral oils do not migrate into food that is packaged by such products. Mineral oil saturated hydrocarbons (MOSH) and mineral oil aromatic hydrocarbons (MOAH) present in paper packaging can migrate into food that is packaged in such paper packaging. MOSH and MOAH can possibly be carcinogenic when accumulated in a human body. There are guidelines that give limits to the content of mineral oil that is acceptable in food. The current levels are 0.6 mg/kg MOSH and 0.15 mg/kg MOAH. While it is desirable to provide paper food packaging products that meet these guideline levels, it is even more desirable to completely eliminate migration of these mineral oils.